Tonight the Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs basketball team will jump into the season, hosting a season-opener against the Southeastern Louisiana Lady Lions. MSU head coach Sharon Fanning said the team took a lot of information from their 88-66 exhibition victory over DT3 on Sunday.
“We had a great opportunity to play combinations and continue to evaluate and improve on our systems in the exhibition game,” Fanning said.
Fanning said she feels like the team is well-prepared for this weekend’s contests, but there is still room for improvement.
“We are looking for carryovers, and we want to continue to improve defense,” Fanning said. “We also want to take good shots as a team.”
Some other improvements Fanning said she would be looking for in this game include defensive rebounding and selection shots.
“We need to shoot more free throws and limit our opponents’ free throws,” she said. “We need more offensive boards, better rebounding, and we need to continue with assist rebounding.”
Last season, Southeastern Louisiana boasted a 17-3 overall record with nine conference victories.
The Lady Bulldogs played Southeastern Louisiana last season at Humphrey Coliseum and defeated them by a 69-62 score.
Sophomore forward Bethany Washington said the team was looking forward to opening up its regular season.
“With this being the opening game of the season, we will come out full-speed,” she said. “I think we will have a good outcome in this game. I think we are prepared. We had a good offseason, and now everyone is focused.”
The Lady Bulldogs will also be hosting the Centenary College of Louisiana in a contest on Sunday with a 2 p.m. scheduled tipoff.
The Lady Bulldogs did not face Centenary in the 2006-2007 season.
Centenary finished that season with a 5-20 overall record, grabbing only one conference victory out of 14 games played.
“We could still improve on some things, but overall I feel really good about this game,” MSU sophomore guard Alexis Rack said. “I always feel like we are prepared for every game, but after we go back and watch film, there is always some kind of improvement, and there is always something that needs improvement.”
Centenary is led by senior Jasmine Bothwell, who has an impressive past in basketball.
She averaged 10.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 4.3 steals per game as a senior in high school.
Washington said that while the team is prepared to open the season, it hopes it will have strong fan support during this season.
“We can’t do everything we need to do without the support of our fellow classmates,” she said. “So we really just need the support, and we need our fans.